Peripheral Blood Smear Test

Examining the blood smear helps identify or confirm:

• Sickle cell disease and thalassemia, from characteristic red cell shapes
• Malaria and other blood parasites, seen directly inside red cells
• Leukemia and other blood cancers, from abnormal white cell appearance
• Iron-deficiency anemia, from small, pale red cells
• Hemolytic anemia, from fragmented or unusually shaped red cells
• Certain infections, from characteristic changes in white cell appearance